Rick Scott finds ways to skirt mainstream media

July 4, 2011|By Kathleen Haughney, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott, plagued by plummeting poll ratings and a fractious relationship with the state's traditional media, has increasingly turned to alternative methods of communicating with voters — including social media — in an effort to improve his public image.

For the past month, he has enlisted the Republican Party of Florida to pay for campaign-like robocalls to voters all over the state, each featuring the recorded voice of the governor citing his efforts to boost jobs, cut property taxes, fight prescription-drug abuse and veto "wasteful special-interest projects" in the budget the Legislature passed in May.

Scott's website features a templated letter that he encourages supporters to download and send to newspaper editorial boards, a group he has shunned since his campaign. "Some of the special interests are attacking the Governor for making tough decisions, showing leadership, and doing what he told us he would do," the letter says. "Rick Scott deserves our unwavering and enthusiastic support."

Scott is a frequent guest on conservative radio talk shows. He has set up several public events, including his appearance in The Villages to announce line-item vetoes of $615 million in legislative spending, to attract tea party crowds. And he has held "town halls" on Twitter and Facebook, a method that allows him to pick which questions he answers.

So far, though, the governor's nontraditional outreach seems to have had little impact. His approval ratings have ranged from a low of 29 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll in May to a high of 45 percent in a survey done last month by two Republican consulting firms. Last week, the Democratic-affiliated Public Policy Polling put his approval rating at 33 percent and said Republican presidential candidates would be wise to keep their distance from him.

Republican communications strategist Sarah Bascom said that it makes sense for Scott and the state GOP to go into campaign mode now, to offset stories about the state's sour economy, $3 billion in budget cuts and pessimistic electorate.

"I think why the Republican Party has been so successful and continues to be is they are always planning on campaign strategy year-round," she said. "Getting your message year-round is absolutely crucial to anybody."

Scott spokesman Brian Burgess, who sends chiding, often-derisive Twitter messages about Tallahassee reporters whose stories he dislikes, wrote in an email that the administration would continue to employ an alternative media strategy.

"The governor will use the full spectrum of communications options available to him," Burgess said. "He's always embraced cutting-edge communications technology, and he's also willing to do town hall events when they make sense."

Some of his tactics may have backfired, however. The letter template got him lampooned on "The Colbert Report," with host Stephen Colbert likening the governor to Lord Voldemort — the hairless villain in the Harry Potter novels and movies — while sarcastically praising him for "courageously" writing the letter to boost his popularity.

During Scott's January Twitter town hall, he accidentally retweeted a comment from a critic that referred to the governor as a "jackass." And during the Facebook event, the site the staff set up for the event crashed, putting it on hold for a while.

Last week, Scott infuriated many of his supporters by approving the $1.2 billion SunRail commuter train in Central Florida. Even though the governor said he had "no choice," given the project's approval by a previous Legislature and governor as well as a half-dozen Central Florida local governments, Orlando anti-tax (and previously pro-Scott) consultant Doug Guetzloe fired off a furious email that concluded: "He's fired as an advocate for taxpayers."

It's not clear that any Scott supporters are responding to his outreach efforts. He has a modest 14,839 followers on his Twitter account. At the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel, editorial page editors reported they've received none of the template letters but have received letters mocking the template.

Palm Beach County Republican Party Chairman Sid Dinerstein said that that the governor has "rewritten a lot of rules" about political strategy, but he also said he wasn't sure the outreach and campaign-style tactics would matter in the end.

"I don't really think the outreach makes a big difference one way or another," he said. "I think it's all about the jobs. And as the unemployment percentages come down and the number of jobs go up, people will appreciate that he got it right."

If Scott's job strategy proves successful, Dinerstein said, Republican candidates, including the presidential nominee, will run well in Florida in 2012. Scott's current unpopularity is more a result of his oft-stated resolve to not base his public policy priorities on poll numbers, Dinerstein added.

"In the business of politics, when you inherit a mess, you've got to fix it your first year," he added. "And with that comes bad poll numbers, lousy media and a whole lot of complaints."